ed under the
shelter of two of the greatest mosques, but he seemed to question my
contention that the mosque in Cordova and the Karouin mosque in Fez are
even more noble in their proportions than his mosque in Chaotong. In
some of the skin-hongs that I entered, the walls were ornamented with
coloured plans of Mecca and Medinah, bought in Chentu, the capital city
of the province of Szechuen.

CHAPTER X.

THE JOURNEY FROM CHAOTONG TO TONGCHUAN.

In Chaotong I engaged three new men to go with me to Tongchuan, a
distance of 110 miles, and I rewarded liberally the three excellent
fellows who had accompanied me from Suifu. My new men were all active
Chinamen. The headman Laohwan was most anxious to come with me.
Recognising that he possessed characteristics which his posterity would
rejoice to have transmitted to them, he had lately taken to himself a
wife and now, a fortnight later, he sought rest. He would come with me
to Burma, the further away the better; he wished to prove the truth of
the adage about distance and enchantment. The two coolies who were to
carry the loads were country lads from the district. My men were to
receive _4s. 6d._ each for the 110 miles, an excessive wage, but all
food was unusually dear, and people were eating maize instead of rice;
they were to find themselves on the way, in other words, they were "to
eat their own rice," and, in return for a small reward, they were to
endeavour to do the five days' stages in three days. I bought a few
stores, including some excellent oatmeal and an annular cake of that
compressed tea, the "Puerh-cha," which is grown in the Shan States and
is distributed as a luxury all over China. It is in favour in the palace
of the Emperor in Peking itself; it is one of the finest teas in China,
yet, to show how jealous the rivalry now is between China tea and
Indian, when I submitted the remainder of this very cake to a well-known
tea-taster in Mangoe Lane, Calcutta, and asked his expert opinion, he
reported that the sample was "of undoubted value and of great interest,
as showing what _muck can be called tea_."

We left on the 3rd, and passed by the main-street through the crowded
city, past the rich wholesale warehouses, and out by the west gate to
the plain of Chaotong. The country spread before us was smiling and
rich, with many farmsteads, and orchards of pears and peaches--a pretty
sight, for the trees were now in full blossom. Many carts were lumbering
a